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The Future Of Movie-Going In Canada?

CANADA — A recent story in the Globe and Mail reported that Cineplex Galaxy movie theatre chain is considering buying its biggest competitor – Famous Players.

If the sale takers place and is approved by the Canadian government’s Competition Bureau, Cineplex-Galaxy would own slightly more than 70 percent of Canada’s movie screens.

The story also includes a hint of what to expect in the future when you buy your ticket. According to the head of Cineplex-Galaxy, there will be about 20 minutes of ads and promo’s projected digitally before the lights go out for the main feature. This is seen as a way to keep the price of tickets down.

This will be a complete about-face. Many years ago Famous Players was the company that gobbled up all competition (there wasn’t much at the time) in many Canadian cities. Odeon, originally from the UK, made modest inroads into the theatre scene in Canada until it became the monster corporation you see today. I shudder to think of what the future will bring, assuming the Competition Bureau approves the sale.

Cineplex is buying Famous Players from Viacom for CDN$500 million. As a condition of the sale Cineplex will have to spin off theatres in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa and 13 other cities.

The acquisition is expected to be official in the summer. Once that happens Famous Players — a household name in Canada for years — will likely be no more. Last year Famous Players turned over its theatres in Atlantic Canada to Maritime chain Empire Theatres.

With this acquisition Cineplex-Galaxy will control 61% of the Canadian market. You can be assured that the theatres that get dumped will be underperforming venues or older locations in need of updating.

Montreal newspaper reports that Cine-Enterprise is bidding for some of the Cineplex Odeons and Famous players theatres (35 locations in all). Cine enterprises has 3 in suburban Montreal, Trois Rivieres, Granby, Saguenay.
also the Gazette reports that Versailles 6, Cote Des Neiges 7, Cavendish 8, Delson 7, St. Burno 11 and Dorion 7 will be sold off.